How to Save a Life

Scenario one:

You are super extremely pissed about something. Although you were at fault, you still feel mad and you go to a friend to unleash your emotions. But instead your friend tries to justify the situation in black and white, saying that you clearly were the one who was wrong. You leave feeling even more angry than you were in the first place as your friend does not understand your emotions.

Scenario two:

Your friend is upset about something and comes to you to complain about it. You find out that your friend was the one at fault but your friend is feeling angry about the whole situation. You attempt to correct your friend into realising that your friend should not be mad and blame someone else about their own mistake. You think you have set the situation right  and justified but your friend leaves still feeling distressed.

You may have come across one of these situations, or maybe even both. But you realise that in both situations nothing has been solved and nobody feels better after it. 

The truth is, sometimes all someone needs is just an ear to listen to them rant and complain and say all they want. Well, this does not apply to everyone, but there are a number of people who are like that. Rage and distress affects someone's emotions and actions greatly, but once it blows over everything just returns to normal, it doesn't mean that they are going to act out on their rants. When your friend complains and rants, sometimes it just means they need to unload and cool down. This is not the time to be judged by their own friend, at least wait till they have calmed down. 

Some people don't understand that all it takes to be a good friend is to be a good listener. Even if you don't know how to comfort someone, just being there to listen is good enough. And really, just listening in silence is way better than saying the wrong thing. You may not agree with what your friend is complaining about, but at least give them a chance to let it out of their system before trying to take action.

p.s. If your friend starts grabbing weapons and hunting down people to kill, then that's a red flag you should look out for.